Sunday, July 24, 2016

Chhattisgarh high court on Tuesday this week
ordered a judicial probe into the death of Madkam Hidme, the woman who was
allegedly stamped as a Maoist and killed in an alleged encounter in Gompadgaon
under Konta police station of Sukma district.

The district and sessions judge of Dantewada
will head the probe.After Hidme's death,
state AAP convener Sanket Thakur filed a writ petition in Chhatisgarh high
court arguing that Madkam Hidme was not a Maoist as plugged by security forces.

She was a normal village girl. Police, however,
abducted her and she was shot at, at least 20 times. Thakur further alleged in
his petition that after her death, security forces clothed a Maoist uniform on
her body. He also alleged that while Hidme's body embedded with several bullet
wounds, but there was not a single bullet hole in the uniform that her body
wore. Further, the crease of the uniform worn by the body was not even
crumpled.

Moreover
Hidme's body had slipper and not boots or shoes as usually are worn by
Maoists,Thakur argued.

The petitioner also alleged that before being
killed, Hidme was raped by security forces.

The petitioner had demanded a compensation of Rs
20 lakh for Hidme's family and also demanded a judicial or an SIT probe into
her death. Besides, the petitioner also demanded registration of FIR against
the mistaking security personnel.

Following Sanket Thakur's allegations, Hidme's
body was exhumed and a second autopsy was carried out after the order issued by
High Court on 24th June 2016. The second autopsy was done in front
of a forensic team, a team of doctors, family members of the deceased and their
advocate. Findings of both the autopsy reports differed from each other.

A double bench headed by chief justice of
Chhattisgarh high court Justice Deepak Gupta on Tuesday ordered a judicial
probe into the matter.

The probe would be conducted by district and
sessions judge of Dantewada Nirmal Minj.